Disappointed - but not by Hoggie

I remember a few years ago (well, several actually) a dear friend of mine, Mr Dave Leahy (or Mad Irishman as he was affectionately known to a few of us) told me that there was something he didn't like about test match cricket: the fact that for five days, one team can be clearly in the ascendancy but the match still ends in a draw.

It has to be said, he has a point. After 4 days of play, England are clearly vastly superior to their first opponents this summer (Sri Lanki), Murali or no Murali, but it seems the game will peter into a draw. Too much time today (Sunday) has been lost to bad light and the forecast for Monday is rain. Damn.

Sometimes, a draw can add to the excitement of a test series: notable examples include England v South Africa at Old Trafford in 1998 - England won the next two tests to win the series 2-1 - and, (from an Australian viewpoint at least), the old enemies' escape at the same ground last year.

But in this instance, no, I'm not chuffed.

But there is another thing I love about the game: positives. Even if England lose, there are invariably positives (the emergence of new talents in the injury-rife winter a shining example). In this case it was seeing Matthew Hoggard take his 200th test match wicket.

It was a lovely moment. He went into the match with a tally of 197, took the first two Sri Lankan wickets on a thrilling day on Friday, only to be upstaged by the extremely impressive Sajid Mahmood who took 3 for 9 off his first five overs in test cricket. But when Hoggie caught Maharoof off his own bowling to become only the 10th Englishman to join the 200 club he just lay on the ground and laughed. Beautiful.

I thought it fitting that Hoggie should become the first of this much vaunted England pace attack to join this exclusive club. He is often the forgotten man of England's first choice pace battery -he doesn't have the same express pace as Harmison or Flintoff, and Simon Jones kind of grabbed the limelight last year with his mastery of reverse swing and his new-found modelling career. Just a shame he can't stay match-fit.

But what Hoggie will do is swing the ball, outthink batsmen, and quite literally, run through a brick wall for his team and his captain. He is the workhorse of the attack, a bit of an unsung hero, but you need that in a team - just as you need a batsman who may not be as flamboyant as, say, Pietersen, but who can occupy the crease for long periods of time and wear the bowlers down a la Mike Atherton - one of my heroes. It seems England have Alistair Cook waiting in the wings to make that role his own.

And, obviously I'm biased - he's a Yorkshireman damnit!! I love hearing about how he stays fit by walking his dogs on the Yorkshire moors (I have such fond memories of walking across those moors as a child, when on holiday in Batley - where my dear mum came from). Apparently he also has a wine rack which he keeps filled with beer - fantastic. I remember saying to Suzie at a wedding yesterday: "I'm half yorkshire, not much will stand between me and my beer".

As I write, Hoggie now stands equal ninth with another Yorkshireman, John Snow. It remains to be seen whether he will catch up with Yorkshire's leading wicket taker for England, Fred Trueman (307), but only a brave man or a fool would bet against it. Trueman I hear is battling cancer - remind me to keep doing those charity runs.

Hoggie is not far behind another great man from a great county, the all-singing (not!), the all-dancing (definitely!) Mr Darren Gough, who claimed 229 scalps in a career that was ended too soon due to injury.

With another 5 tests to go after this one, I'll bet a handsome sum that Hoggie will overtake Gough's total before the summer is out. It'll be sad to see Goughie pushed down the list, but part of me will know it's just reward for the man from Pudsey.

Copyright © Jonathan Weedon, May 2006